Improved spring-bed bottom



DAVID MANUEL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A SSIGNORTO JOI-IN S. PAINE, OF SAME PLACE. Leners Patent No. 86,169, dated .maa/ry 26,1869.

IMPROVED SPRING-BED BOTTOM The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all persons to whom these presents may come Be it known that VI, DAVID MANUEL, of Boston, in the county of Suolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Spring- Bed Bottoms; and do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a top view,

Figure 2, a vertical section, and

Figure 3, a transverse section of a spring-hed botton, containing my invention.

This invention has reference to one which constitutes the subject of Letters Patent, No. 63,066, dated 4liIarch I9, A. D., 1867, and granted to myself and Wil` lard Manuel, as assignees of myself, the inventor, my present invention being an improvement in the hedbottom, and intended not only for holding the springs in place in their prong-holes, but as a supporter of the mattress, or a means of insulating it from the springs.

I have, also, so arranged the spring-groove with re-v spect to the helices, or helix-coils of the springs, as to support them in front as well as in rear, and thereby relieve the prongs from much of the strain to which they are' liable when the coils are left unsupportedrin front. Y

The drawings represent a bed-bottom, composed of a rectangular supporting or fbundation-iiame, A, a series of parallel slats, B B B, 8vo., a series of springs, C C C, 8vo.

Each of the springs C is a compound one, made usually of 'a single wire, and in the form as represented in top view in Figure 4, and in side View in Figure 5, and in rear elevation in Figure, it having a straight portion, e, at its middle, from eachl end of which the wire is bent at a right angle; thence each leg is bent in the form of a C-,spring, as shown at f thence in a long curve or side spring c thence in a helix, as shown at a, and terminates in straight portion or spring g. w

There is one ofthe said springs to eaehend of each slat, the slat near such end being provided with a notch, h, to receive the part e of the spring.

The two prongs of the spring are' inserted in holes made vertically within the cross-bar ofthe frame, andj downward from the groove i, formed in suoli cross-bar,

l and running lengthwise of it, such groove being the arc of a circle, in transverse section, so as to. receive and lit to the helix-coils of the spring, and extend .up both in front and in rear of it. In this way, the groove operates to support the coils ofthe spring better than if extended up against their back only, as in my former patent. The extra support thus 'afforded to the coils relievesthe prongs from much lateral or other strain, tending to bend them or break them oli', or to lift the prongs out of their sockets, as this strain will be resisted by the front part of the groove, the back part also serving as an abutment to support the coils under back pressure on the spring, and thereby prevent such pressure from bending or breaking the prongs.

The leverage of the springs or weight on them, tends to draw the springs forward, andotf their rest, but by having a support in front of and againstahe coils of each spring, that is, by extending the groove 'i up in front of the coils, this tendency of the spring to beA drawn forward by theslat when weighted will be counteracted.

Instead of employing a cord to go through the coils of the springs of each series, and be fastened at its ends to the frame, as in my patented Vbed-bottom referred to, (such cord being for the purpose of holding the springs down'upon their seats, and preventing them or any of them from falling ont of their prong- 'sockets when the bed-bottom Amay be turned up or `over, as the prongs will generally be loose in their holes or sockets or liable 'to become so,) I now make use of a cap-bar, k, which extends, directly over and upon the helix-coils of the series, and is fastened to the frame A, the whole being as shown in the drawings.

This cap-bar, by its arrangement `with the springs and the slats, serves not only as a means of `keeping the coils of the, springs down upon their seats while the bed-bottom may be in use, or be in the act of being turned up or over, but as a support for a mattress or bed when resting on the slats.

It also so insulatcs the mattress or bed .from the coils of the springs as to'prevent wear of the mattress or bed by them.

The cap-bar thus not only performs the functions of the cord above mentioned, but is advantageous in other respects.

I do not herein claim the extension ofthe spring-supporting frame underneath the springs, and up against the backs of the coils thereo'nor do I claim the employment of a cord to go through the coils of the springs, to keep them in place on the frame.

What I claim as my present improvement or invention may be stated as follows; that is to sa f I claim the arrangement of the cap-bar with the sup porting-frame, the slats, and the springs, constructed, arranged, and applied togetherubstantially as described.

I also claim, in combination with the springs, their supporting-mil or frame, and the slats, the extension of the groove i up, both in front and in rear of and against the helix-coils of each of the springs, as set forth, so as to support the coils both in front and rear of them, as and for the purpose or purposes as described.

. DAVID MANUEL. Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, E. P. HALE, Jr. 

